All Is Fair In Love And Death

Their kinds have been at war for centuries. They have an unbreakable law. But their love may be strong enough to stop it all.
Lycanthrope Gabriel and vampire Eva were enemies at first. A rumble in the forest never made many friends. However it would be the Fates’ decree that they would be the ones to cease fire with the war between their kinds.

A past unknown to them, memories that aren’t theirs and a deep bond no one can comprehend will bring them together to find the cure, stop the centuries old feud, and bring peace along with it. However, love may come along unexpectedly as well. And the punishment is death…

Chapters:

It all began with the Creator, as all
things do. However, the Creator in this story is not a god or a
deity or a spirit. No, he is the son of man, an ordinary mortal.
Yet not so ordinary, for he was the first man to consort with a
demon. This demon he fell in love with was one of the first and
most powerful of demons. A wild creature that took the shape of a
monstrous wolf and drank the blood of humans. This demon was Lethe.
They fell in love at sight, and united as one. Such a union was
forbidden by nature itself, for humans and demons were natural
enemies. And the universal law existed even in the beginning: Never
fall in love with the enemy. Yet they did, and from this union of
the man Michael and the demon Lethe, came two sons of strange
birth.

Twins, yet not twins. One called
Marcus, a deathly pale boy born of feline appearance and the need
to drink the blood of the living to sustain himself. The other
named Willyem, a pale wolfish child with sharp canines and the
ability to become a fierce creature of the moon at will. Both
immortal, both with the golden nocturnal eyes of the mother-one
cat, one wolf-, and both with the a half of the humanity of their
father in their breast. With their birth, Marcus and Willyem became
the first of their kind. Lethe looked at her sons with love, their
father with pride, and asked, "What shall we name their
blood?"

Michael placed one hand on each son's
head. "Marcus is a blood drinker, has the likes of a panther, and
is as cold as death. Vampires he and his children shall be. Willyem
is a wolf child, carnivorous as he eats the flesh of animals, and
is a guardian in aware of his family. Lycanthrpii is the name of
his family. And with their nocturnal eyes, their heightened senses,
and need to hunt, they will be creatures of the night." With the
blessings of Michael, a plain mortal man, they grew into what they
were shaped to be.

Until the gravest of days, they lived
in peace and companionship. The boys had a love so strong for their
mother, it seemed unreal. It seemed they would live like this until
the end of their days. Yet it was not so. The union of Michael and
Lethe broke the universal law. Theirs was an unnatural match, a
repulsion to both their kind. To their relief, Lethe's family
overlooked the bond in mercy, for they gave birth to children that
could change the pace of their kind forever. To their despair, the
humans of Michael knew that the making of more vampires,
lycanthropii, or a mixof the two could lead to their
destruction.

This could not be. The universal law
had been shattered, a feat punishable only by death. The humans, in
an uproar, mobbed together and left to assault the traitor Michael
and his demon wife and children. Lethe, frightened and angry,
dutifully hid her children safely so they would not be taken or
killed. Then, to defend themselves and their children, Michael and
Lethe faced the throng together. The sight of the human man and
demon holding hands and confronting them shocked the crowd.
Convinced that Michael was under the spell of an evil enchantress,
they attacked Lethe. They tried the best they could to protect each
other from the mass, but to no avail. After the horde of people
left, Lethe was gravely injured to the point of death, years of
civilized motherhood softening her demon rage.

Michael was left to her body all alone
and in grief. He was angry, angry at the mob, angry that Lethe's
family had not come to their aid, angry at himself for allowing it
to happen. As Lethe died in his arms, she placed a hand on her
human husband's cheek. "I have," she breathed. "One final gift for
you, love of my soul." With a flare of her golden eyes, she gave to
Michael all of her powers and the last of her strength. "For you,"
she whispered. "For our children." Tears flowed down her cheeks.
"For our people." She died, and left her consort to be the Creator
alone. In her last attempt to help him, she unknowingly changed
him. He gained eternal life. He was given the gift of the moon and
the curse of blood. Michael, with his wife's love, had become both
of his children. A winged wolf creature with double- pupil eyes,
pale white fur, and a black mane: The first and only
werepire.

Centuries passed. Under Michael's
watchful eye, the twins became beautiful and powerful immortals.
Marcus was a perfectly sculpted man, a marble statue of a god with
lengthy ebony hair, slanted eyes the color of liquid gold, and a
feline grace to his movements. Willyem grew to be an Adonis of a
man in size and beauty, muscled, fair like cream, scruffy hair like
fine copper that almost covered the yellowy eyes of the hunter he
was. Both were excellent scholars, spectacular hunters, and
powerful immortals. Nevertheless, it was not the same as having the
mother they did not remember.

Nothing was known about their powers
for the longest time. Their senses were extraordinary, balance and
agility inhuman, and the ability to commute mentally. That was all
there was at first. Until a hunting accident that involved a human
being bitten by Willyem who got away. Later, there was evidence
that another lycanthrope roamed the country. Thus they realized
they had the ability to change another through bite. It was
probably then that the twins lost compatibility as they competed to
increase their own kind's population before the other.

As the populations grew, so did their
hate for one another. They always came into horrible fights, most
drawing blood, few to the point that they almost killed one
another. Every time they did Michael had to intervene. It was a
futile effort. The twins continued in their feud, growing into a
hate so strong and ancient it seemed branded into their very souls.
It distraught Michael deeply, for his children were all he had
left, and love they used to have was gone. Seeing as they were
destined to murder one another, he left them, unable to put an end
to battle.

We skip ahead centuries later. Michael
has long since been in hiding because of his nature. Vampires and
lycanthropii are now in masses, covens, packs, and empires
stretching across the world under Marcus and Willyem. Their only
mutual agreement was the universal law, by which all abided.In
fact, in the early days of construction, clans were not even
allowed to see a creature from another. Such was the resulting
bitterness between Marcus and Willyem.

The Fates, in the twins' fourth
century of their rule, seemed to deem it fit to pull a jest on
them. Each ruler now had a grown child of their loins; Marcus a
daughter, Cynthia, and Willyem's son Cyrus. A princess of the
vampires and a prince of the lycanthropii, two royals of different
clans, forbidden to ever see one another. But a mere immortal
cannot destroy Fates' final decision.

It is unknown how Cynthia and Cyrus
met. Some say they crossed paths on a hunt, other tales say Cynthia
had mistaken Cyrus for one of her comrades of war and tended to a
fatal wound. However the path that brought them together, they
walked down another as one. As lovers. Their love was secret and
was for years, but secrets are not forever.

Marcus and Willyem did find out. When
they did, they were devastated, and meant to bring out their wrath
upon them, but it was too late. The damage had been done, and
Cynthia was with child, one that would be like its great
grandfather. The brothers wept at the irony of it, but could not
deny the justice that had to be carried out as they would for any
other: Death. It was a grim reunion. The brothers came together and
sent out mercenaries meant to capture their children and bring them
back alive.

Of course, Cynthia and Cyrus ran. A
great game of hide and seek began and continued for over fifty
years. When they were captured, they brought in Cynthia, Cyrus, and
their grown hybrid son, Lycan. Justice was carried out immediately.
Lycan was taken away from his parents and imprisoned in a stone
shell, one he could never escape, but he could never die. Just
become weaker and weaker. It was an additional punishment to
Cynthia and Cyrus to keep them anchored in woe, even in
death.

The lovers were then taken to a large
room in the Final Tomb, a place where both lycanthropii and
vampires could be buried. Cynthia was tied high upon an elder wood
pole dressed in flammable vampire's blood. Cyrus was hung in the
air across the room from her, suspended upside down by silver
hooks. They faced each other. Then the torture began.

Cuts were made in all the potent
places on Cyrus's body, deep and ragged so the blood flowed like a
waterfall onto the cold marble tomb floor. A small flame was led to
the elder pole, and then set fire to. A most excruciating death, to
watch the one you love most die slowly as you yourself dies.
Screams resonated in the room as Cyrus bled and Cynthia burned.
Screaming for themselves and for each other. Eventually, the
fathers, in an act of mercy, decapitated their own child to end the
suffering, though their bodies still bled or burned. The task
affected each immortal differently. Marcus, in killing Cynthia,
became grave, hard, cold, bitter, and angry. Cyrus's end brought
out the humanity and compassion in Willyem, and he repented by
becoming a better man for his people. It was known that day as the
day that Willyem's heart swelled.

Despite the mixed feelings, there was
complete relief that it was done. Over. It would never happen again
and neither clan would have to feel that pain ever again. Or so
they had hoped...